With my post yesterday, I got no comments. I can understand that. Hunting is really a touchy subject with many people. I can understand that and I am sure I will be typing up a philosophical treatise on my thoughts regarding hunting.
However, hunting is not the purpose of my post for today. No, today is talking about protecting the animals and the people in my care. I warn you that what follows is not necessarily a pleasant read, but it is something that comes with living in the "country".
Read on, or come back another day for a new post. Thanks.
So, yesterday, I get home from work and I go out to the coops to look in on the birds. Hmm, all of the ducklings and the momma duck actually worked themselves totally out of the run and the other female got over to the chicken coop. Hmmmm, curious. So I walk over and look into the duck coop and what do I see? A friggin' rat! I bet that stupid rat got some of our ducklings. So I flip the door shut and make sure that there is no way for it to get out and I hustle in.
Now, I am in a quandry, it is sitting in my duck coop... a wooden coop with a wooden floor. That eliminates a number of weapons. Hmmm. Hey, I've got this stupid little pellet gun. Ok, so its really old, but it still works and I have some .177 cal pellets. Its only a 5-8 foot shot. Yeah, this will work.
So I get back out to the coop, still in slacks and a dress shirt, carrying a pellet gun, with plastic bags hanging out of my pockets. I'm sure I was quite a sight. So I pump up the gun, load a pellet and lift up the roof a bit to get my aim. Man, I should have been a sniper. 1 shot = 1 kill. I shot, right behind the ear. Done.
So I get in the coop and get it and any straw with blood on it and double bag it. Take it down, put the gun and pellets away, and I put the body in the garbage. I am feeling pretty decent. I am doing what needs to be done and I am protecting the animals that are in my care.
Then my wife mentions that where there is one rat, there are probably more.... ARGH!!!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Slowly, I turn, inch by inch...
I believe I have mentioned in the past (though, I am not completely sure) that I have mentioned that the wife and I are new to our area. Well, we have lived in the new state for a little over a year and we will have been in our house for a year in a couple weeks. But the thing is since we moved to this state, I have not been hunting. Let me be honest here, I came to hunting later in life. My grandfather used to, but he had a stroke before I was born and never went again. My parents did not go. This made it much more difficult because I didn't have the people around me to take me and teach me or to make me interested in hunting. I started to be very interested in it as a teenager and thought about it for years but never did anything about it. Then I finally decided that it was time. Because of where I used to live, I ended up going by myself a good bit, but I never did get anything.
Now, in the new state, the bow hunting season for deer is over 3 months long, gun hunting for deer is one week. Which is fine with me, I do prefer the bow anyways, but just look at that discrepancy of time! So I have to prepare!
I should have been practising with the bow for the past few months, but with everything else going on, I have been running out of time. This past weekend, I found some time to get out and do some shooting and working to tune up the bow. I then proceeded to lose two friggin' arrows. Did you know, that arrows are not cheap? 30, 40, 50, and UP for 12 arrows that I will still need to cut and set up. That doesn't include targets, if you use them, if you need a new string, or whatever. That is all ignoring the cost of a bow. Which is definately not cheap!
I currently use a Jennings UniStar. This was produced a while back, but it is a rather unique design. Where most compound bows have their cams on the end wheels where everyone expects them to be, the UniStar put it in the middle of the bow. This unique cam, to me, is probably the best set up for a compound bow that I have ever shot. (Not saying that there aren't better bows or that this is right for anyone else, but for me....) It eliminates uneven pulling and I feel that it doesn't have the same limb stress that comes with the "traditional" compound bow. I have never even needed a stabilizer on the front. I got mine from craigslist.org for $25, but I see them going from $150 to upwards of $350 per bow. Man, I would love a backup bow just in case anything ever happens to my current bow. (So if any of you happen to know of a cheap one or have one laying around that you would like to get rid of, please let me know! Can't pay much, but you would have my gratitude!!!)
Now, I would love to have a well made traditional long bow or even a recurve, but they are even more expensive any more. Some day I will be looking to make my own traditional long bow, but until that day, my UniStar will work for me.
If anyone wants to donate some arrows, that would be appreciated too! I've got about a 30" pull with the bow set about 63# right now. (I know, I am shameless!)
I will be taking some pictures of my arrow groupings and whatnot as I prep for the upcoming hunting seasons. I am hoping to get at least a deer this year. Maybe even some squirrel. :-D
(The picture was pulled from a seller on ebay, not my current bow)
Now, in the new state, the bow hunting season for deer is over 3 months long, gun hunting for deer is one week. Which is fine with me, I do prefer the bow anyways, but just look at that discrepancy of time! So I have to prepare!
I should have been practising with the bow for the past few months, but with everything else going on, I have been running out of time. This past weekend, I found some time to get out and do some shooting and working to tune up the bow. I then proceeded to lose two friggin' arrows. Did you know, that arrows are not cheap? 30, 40, 50, and UP for 12 arrows that I will still need to cut and set up. That doesn't include targets, if you use them, if you need a new string, or whatever. That is all ignoring the cost of a bow. Which is definately not cheap!
I currently use a Jennings UniStar. This was produced a while back, but it is a rather unique design. Where most compound bows have their cams on the end wheels where everyone expects them to be, the UniStar put it in the middle of the bow. This unique cam, to me, is probably the best set up for a compound bow that I have ever shot. (Not saying that there aren't better bows or that this is right for anyone else, but for me....) It eliminates uneven pulling and I feel that it doesn't have the same limb stress that comes with the "traditional" compound bow. I have never even needed a stabilizer on the front. I got mine from craigslist.org for $25, but I see them going from $150 to upwards of $350 per bow. Man, I would love a backup bow just in case anything ever happens to my current bow. (So if any of you happen to know of a cheap one or have one laying around that you would like to get rid of, please let me know! Can't pay much, but you would have my gratitude!!!)Now, I would love to have a well made traditional long bow or even a recurve, but they are even more expensive any more. Some day I will be looking to make my own traditional long bow, but until that day, my UniStar will work for me.
If anyone wants to donate some arrows, that would be appreciated too! I've got about a 30" pull with the bow set about 63# right now. (I know, I am shameless!)
I will be taking some pictures of my arrow groupings and whatnot as I prep for the upcoming hunting seasons. I am hoping to get at least a deer this year. Maybe even some squirrel. :-D
(The picture was pulled from a seller on ebay, not my current bow)
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
More Updates
Well, we are down to 7 ducklings. We hitched the coop up to one of the vehicles and moved it to back behind the garden. It seems that the rain made the rat or whatever rodent that was taking them followed. So we put out a poison trap, which we both really hated to do, but we can't be losing any more ducklings. They rely on us for their care!
We also got us a "barn" cat. The wife is very allergic, but we needed to do something, so Jade, the kitty, is out in the chicken coop. Seems to be ok with it. Doesn't really like it, but I think she will grow accustomed to it. Her previous owners were moving to Phoenix and were not able to take her with them.
I don't think I mentioned before, but our neighbors across the street are really awesome. They raise animals and buy/sell at a number of the auctions around. They had gotten us another female muscovy, but between the time of purchase and the time we got her to our coop, it seemed like she broke her foot. She was hobbling and unable to move it or straighten it out. We were keeping a close eye on her in case it would be necessary to have duck for dinner some night, but she is doing excellently and is walking around with barely a trace of a limp.
Of course, the neighbors do just about every type animal under the sun except for three that we are interested in. We have talked about getting some pigs, some turkeys, and someday a dairy cow. They can point us in the right direction, but its not like sheep or goats where we can just walk over and they have some there for us to get used to. I believe a lot of what we are waiting for right now is the money so set up the housing and the fencing. Ha ha.
Then again, since our only pup now is 1/2 border collie, 1/2 brittany (100% spazmodic nutjob), we have talked about maybe some sheep or goats just to give him some meaningful work to expend some of his energy. Oh if only the neighbors sheep were dog broken! Although, he did do a really good job herding our muscovy drake back into the run last night. I really wish I had a picture of that... he looked just like he should, head down, tail down, stalking and herding that duck. Of course, I don't see a whole lot of sheep dog trials near where we are, but who knows, get a couple sheep and then maybe travel some to compete or something. Yeah, right.
I was laughing to myself last night... think about a sheep dog trying to herd some fainting goats. That would be hilarious. I can just see the dog looking at a goat after it fainted going, "oh my, oh my, i killed it, oh my, oh my!!!!" If you don't know about fainting goats, check out youtube and do a search. They are cute and funny as all get out.
Anyways, I think that's enough for right now.
We also got us a "barn" cat. The wife is very allergic, but we needed to do something, so Jade, the kitty, is out in the chicken coop. Seems to be ok with it. Doesn't really like it, but I think she will grow accustomed to it. Her previous owners were moving to Phoenix and were not able to take her with them.
I don't think I mentioned before, but our neighbors across the street are really awesome. They raise animals and buy/sell at a number of the auctions around. They had gotten us another female muscovy, but between the time of purchase and the time we got her to our coop, it seemed like she broke her foot. She was hobbling and unable to move it or straighten it out. We were keeping a close eye on her in case it would be necessary to have duck for dinner some night, but she is doing excellently and is walking around with barely a trace of a limp.
Of course, the neighbors do just about every type animal under the sun except for three that we are interested in. We have talked about getting some pigs, some turkeys, and someday a dairy cow. They can point us in the right direction, but its not like sheep or goats where we can just walk over and they have some there for us to get used to. I believe a lot of what we are waiting for right now is the money so set up the housing and the fencing. Ha ha.
Then again, since our only pup now is 1/2 border collie, 1/2 brittany (100% spazmodic nutjob), we have talked about maybe some sheep or goats just to give him some meaningful work to expend some of his energy. Oh if only the neighbors sheep were dog broken! Although, he did do a really good job herding our muscovy drake back into the run last night. I really wish I had a picture of that... he looked just like he should, head down, tail down, stalking and herding that duck. Of course, I don't see a whole lot of sheep dog trials near where we are, but who knows, get a couple sheep and then maybe travel some to compete or something. Yeah, right.
I was laughing to myself last night... think about a sheep dog trying to herd some fainting goats. That would be hilarious. I can just see the dog looking at a goat after it fainted going, "oh my, oh my, i killed it, oh my, oh my!!!!" If you don't know about fainting goats, check out youtube and do a search. They are cute and funny as all get out.
Anyways, I think that's enough for right now.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Busy busy and some additions
Well, I am not sure who knows what or what I have mentioned in the past, so here's an update on most and sundry.
First. Dear Wife and I are now licensed Foster Parents for our county/state. That has taken up a huge amount of time in preparing for this and for getting the house and everything ready. Also, the meetings with the case worker and the phone calls/emails have been quite time consuming as well.
Secondly, one of our muscovy hens has been broody on 14 eggs for... well, just about 35 days, and we now have ducklings! 13 hatched, and for those of you who don't know, 13 out of 14 is a really good hatch. At least in our experiences, if you get eggs from a hatchery, our normal hatch rate is just over 1/2. They hatched this past Friday and Saturday. Unfortunately, somehow we have lost two. :-( We don't know what happened, but we only have 11 as of this evening. No bodies, no down, nothing. Our hope is that the two most adventerous escaped and followed some of our neighbors back across the street. Our neighbors across the street make their living raising and selling animals... mostly working the auctions. They have sheep, goats, all sorts of chickens, ducks, geese, a llama, rabbits, pigeons, etc. Their ducks like to come over to our yard for something new and some of them come through because if you work your way through our yard, our neighbors yard, and back a little, there is a nice big pond for them.
Third, a nine month old border collie/brittany mix is well... time consuming as well. This is such a high energy dog that even if I work with him for an hour or two a day he still has the energy to be a spaz and to go go go go go go.
Well, this is some of what is going on, I am going to try to get a couple more composed coming up to cover some more of what has been happening. I may not be posting as often as before, but still... thanks for letting me vent. So for now, your reward is... Baby Ducky Pictures!!!!
First. Dear Wife and I are now licensed Foster Parents for our county/state. That has taken up a huge amount of time in preparing for this and for getting the house and everything ready. Also, the meetings with the case worker and the phone calls/emails have been quite time consuming as well.
Secondly, one of our muscovy hens has been broody on 14 eggs for... well, just about 35 days, and we now have ducklings! 13 hatched, and for those of you who don't know, 13 out of 14 is a really good hatch. At least in our experiences, if you get eggs from a hatchery, our normal hatch rate is just over 1/2. They hatched this past Friday and Saturday. Unfortunately, somehow we have lost two. :-( We don't know what happened, but we only have 11 as of this evening. No bodies, no down, nothing. Our hope is that the two most adventerous escaped and followed some of our neighbors back across the street. Our neighbors across the street make their living raising and selling animals... mostly working the auctions. They have sheep, goats, all sorts of chickens, ducks, geese, a llama, rabbits, pigeons, etc. Their ducks like to come over to our yard for something new and some of them come through because if you work your way through our yard, our neighbors yard, and back a little, there is a nice big pond for them.
Third, a nine month old border collie/brittany mix is well... time consuming as well. This is such a high energy dog that even if I work with him for an hour or two a day he still has the energy to be a spaz and to go go go go go go.
Well, this is some of what is going on, I am going to try to get a couple more composed coming up to cover some more of what has been happening. I may not be posting as often as before, but still... thanks for letting me vent. So for now, your reward is... Baby Ducky Pictures!!!!
Friday, June 19, 2009
Government say what?
Howdy all... been a while, but figured I should tell you all that I am still alive. Things are so danged hectic that once I get home each night, i don't really feel like sitting down to write anything. Well, that is until I ran across these two doozies and felt the need to share them. I make no claims about how often I will be posting, but some things just need to be shared. So here goes...
1) The first thing is the new change that is putting us all into some severe danger. That is that enemy combatants engaged in activities against our military in Afghanistan are now being read their Miranda rights as if they were American citizens being detained by the law enforcement officials within American borders! There are plenty of sites out on them there Internets discussing this and dissecting it, so I won't go in to too much detail here. It seems that some people are saying this is a policy change from the Executive branch. I don't know exactly how it started or what is behind it, but... Anyways, I did want to include some links to the stories. So here ya go.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/10/lawmaker-says-obama-ordered-fbi-read-rights-detainees/http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/11/combatant-criminal-reading-miranda-rights-detainees-draws-criticism/
2) There is a new bill proposed in the House of Representatives, and this one is a bit... ahh, let's go with mind-bending. House Joint Resolution 5 (H.J. Res. 5) states: "Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number oterms an individual may serve as President." Now, isn't it a bit early to be looking at this since the current President isn't even 1/4 of the way through his first term? Well, since it would need to go to the states to be ratified, I can see the rush to get it through in hopes of having it ratified prior to the end of his second term... IF he is elected to a second term.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=hj111-5
Sometimes it makes me wonder what people are thinking...
1) The first thing is the new change that is putting us all into some severe danger. That is that enemy combatants engaged in activities against our military in Afghanistan are now being read their Miranda rights as if they were American citizens being detained by the law enforcement officials within American borders! There are plenty of sites out on them there Internets discussing this and dissecting it, so I won't go in to too much detail here. It seems that some people are saying this is a policy change from the Executive branch. I don't know exactly how it started or what is behind it, but... Anyways, I did want to include some links to the stories. So here ya go.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/10/lawmaker-says-obama-ordered-fbi-read-rights-detainees/http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/11/combatant-criminal-reading-miranda-rights-detainees-draws-criticism/
2) There is a new bill proposed in the House of Representatives, and this one is a bit... ahh, let's go with mind-bending. House Joint Resolution 5 (H.J. Res. 5) states: "Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number oterms an individual may serve as President." Now, isn't it a bit early to be looking at this since the current President isn't even 1/4 of the way through his first term? Well, since it would need to go to the states to be ratified, I can see the rush to get it through in hopes of having it ratified prior to the end of his second term... IF he is elected to a second term.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=hj111-5
Sometimes it makes me wonder what people are thinking...
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